Rail bond



June 23, 1925. 1,542,898

v H. LOUGHRIDGE RAIL BOND Filed Oct. 25, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q 9 1/2 C) Q i June 23, 1925.

M. H. LOUGHRIDGE RAIL BOND Filed Oct. 25, 1920 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 &

Patented June 23, 1925 UNITED STATES IIIATTHEW I-I. LOUGHEIDGE, BOGOTA, NEW JERSEY.

BAIL BOND.

Application filed October 25', 1920. Serial 110,419,201.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATTH W H. Lo eH- RIDGE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bogota, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bail Bonds, of which the following is a specification. 7

This invention relates to rail bonds, that is, to means for providing electrical conductivlty for the oints of a rallway track such as are required where track circuits'are wires before they are driven tight in the rail,

Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, with the bond wires driven tight in position, Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are developed cross-sectional views taken from Fig. 2, Fig. 7 is an outline of the bond wires complete, Fig. 8 shows a development of this invention applied to a rail joint and using three bond wires, Fig. 9 is a view of the bond wires in place with the rail in section, Figs; 10, 11 and 12, are developed cross-sections taken from Fig." 9, Fig. 13 shows how the ends of the bond wires may be formed, Fig. 14 shows the end of the locking bond wire, Figs. 15 and 16 show the formation of both ends of two of the bond wires and Fig. 17 shows the formation of both ends of the locking bond wire.

It is well-known that the splice bars of a rail joint are not reliable as conductors for the formation of an electric circuit'through the rails of a' track and the usual procedure is to provide a conduct-or bonded into each end of'the rall which bridges the olnt. This conductor or bond 18 securely fastened at each end in holes drilled in each end of the rails, therebymaking a continuous metallic path for the electric. current. Established practice-has shown that bonds made of a plurality of wires are more reliable and can stand the vibration of a railroad track much better than a single conductor bond made from heavy stock. According to the present invention, as illustrated in Fig. 1,'two such conductors or bond wires are used and in 8, three bond wires are used around the o nt.

Heretofore, it has been common practice to drill a hole in the rail, insert the end of the wire in the hole, provide a tapered channel pin with a groove for the bond wire which fits the hole snugly and. forms a tight joint when driven into the rail. This required a separate hole for eachend of each bond wire and a channel pin for each hole. The present invention eliminates the channel pins entirely and provides for securing the bond wires in one hole in the end of each rail. This is secured by inserting the ends of both wires shaped according to the present invention, in said holes and by moving onerelative to the other these wires become securely locked in the hole without'channel pins or other medium.

In the drawings, 11 represents the ends of two abutting rails at a'joint secured by the splice bars 12; 13 and 14 represent the bond wires secured in a hole in the end of each rail. In Fig. 2,-it will be noted that wire 14 has an enlarged end 21 tapering inwardly to 22 and from this point the wire gradually assumes the circular formation shown in Fig. ,4. On the other hand, wire 13 tapers in the opposite direction from 24 with the smaller end at 23. hen the end of wire 14 is inserted in hole 25 to the point indicated at 22, there is'suflicient clearance for the end If, when in this position, wire 14 is driven back on the end to the position shown in Fig. 3, then wires 13 and 14 snugly fit the hole in. rail 11 and are securely locked'or wedged therein, thus making a secure connection to the rail which makes direct contact with the rail and thereby provides increased conductivity.

It will be noted from Fig.4, that the wires are circular in cross-section while in Fig. 5, they each approach a semicircle,

and in Fig. 6 become a complete semi-circle, filling the hole 25. This hole isslightly smaller in sectional area than the combined areas of wires 13 and 14 and these wires are swedged in a; press to the semi-circular form shown, thus providing a closely fitting connection between the bond wires and the rail. The slope of the end of wire 14 from 21 to 22 is preferably slightly greater than the wedge.

slope of wire 13 from 24 toward ,23. Under ordinary conditions the friction between, wire 13 and the hole 25, is greater than the friction between the flat surfaceof'the wires themselves and wire 13 does not move when wire 1 1 is driven back. However, should wire 13 slide back on wire 14, this difference in taper would insure a wedging or locking effect of the wires in the hole. It will .be noted that the end 21 of wire 14 is circular in cross-section and is therefore easily driven back by a hannner to the wedging position.

Then two wires are used the .ends of the wires are reversed one end being the looking .wire and the opposite end being the For instance, in Fig. 7, it will be noted that wir 14 isshaped at one end with the wedge 23 and the .oppositeend with the lock .21 and is positioned against wire 13 which. is exactly similar with its ends re-' versed. Hence, all wires are made alike and are simply assembled with their ends reversed, that is, the end of one wire is made the complement of its companion which together form a circular cross-section filling the hole in the rail.

In Fig. 8, 11 indicates a rail joint with the abutting ends of rails 11 secured by the splice bar 12 and having the bond wires 31, 32'and 33 secured in thesame hole in each endof the rail as shown. Two of these bond wires, 31 and 32 are preferably made alike, as shown in side elevation in Fig. ,15.a-nd in plan in 16. The ends of these wires slope outwardly as indicated from 38 to35, Fig. 13, havinga contour forming approximately 120 degrees of a. circle as indicated by the diagram to the-right, and the locking wire is designed with a complementarycontour as indicated in Fig. 1 1, from 36 to 34-, sloping in the opposite direction to lock these two wires in the hole. From Fig. 10, it will be noted thatthese wires are circular in cross-section, gradually developing as shown in Fig. 11, to the c rcle indicated in Fig. 12, where each wire forms approximately 120 degrees of the circular crosssection of the hole. The locking wire .33 is inserted in the hole to position 34, then the wires 31 and 32 are inserted as far as possible when wire 33 is driven back, locking the three wires securely in the hole. The end of the locking wire 33, it will be noted from the diagram to .the right of Fig. 9, and Fig. 17 closely approaches a circle and is therefore able to take up the thrustof the hammer when driven into the locking ,po-

.sition.

This bonding not only provides .a direct contact between the bond wires and the rail, but enables the bond wires to be secured to the rail with thQSlllilllGSt"POSSlblG hole, the hole in the rail being slightly less than the combined areas of the wires, thereby effectinga very material saving in thedrilling of the rail and enabling a bond wire of larger size to be used in a smaller hole than would be possible with the use of channel pins.

It has been found that bond wires of this class, particularly when made of a small sized wire and terminating in an abrupt and rigid connection with the rail are subject to crystallization due to the vibration of the rails. IVith the type of bond wire shown .in the present invention, this condition is largely overcome by gradually tapering the wire which is semi-circular in shape 1111103, circular shape, distributing the ef fects of vibration over a greater area and also as these wires are larger for the same rail drilling than wires using channel pins, they have a greater moment of inertia and thus are less influenced by vibration;

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a rail bond, a plurality of wires each of substantially the samesectional area throughout, said wires shaped near each end to have a cross-section forming a portion of a circle which when placed adjacent oneanother form a circular bodyof greater diameter than'each ofsaid Wires.

2. In a railbond, a plurality of wires each of substantially the same sectional area throughout, the end portions of said wires shaped to have a cross-section forming .a portion of a circle, said shaped end portions when placed adjacent one another forminga taperingbody of substantiallycircular crosssection, and of greater diameter'than each of said wires.

3. In a rail bond a plurality of wires each of substantially the same sectional area throughout, the end portions of said wires shaped to have a cross section forming a portion of a circle,'said shaped end portions when placed adjacent one another forming a tapering circular body. 7

4; In a rail bond, a plurality of wires each of substantially the same sectional area throughout, the end portions of said wires shaped to have a cross-section forming a portion of a circle, said shaped end portions when placed adjacent one another forming substantially a frustrum of a cone with its baseat the end of said wires.

5. In a rail bond, a plurality of Wires each of substantially the same sectional area throughout, said wires shaped near each end to have a cross-section forming a portion of a circle, said wires when placed adjacent one another forming substantially a frustrum of a cone with its base at the end ofeach of said wires.

6. In a rail bond, a plurality of wires each of substantially the same sectional area throughout, the end portions of saidwires shaped to have .a cross-section forming a portion of a circle, a pair of said shaped end portions when placed adjacent one another forming a circular body and aligning the opposite ends of said wires to form a circular body.

7 In a rail bond, a plurality of Wires each of substantially the same sectional area throughout, said Wires shaped near each end to have a cross-section forming a portion of a circle, one of said wires shaped so that whenplaced adjacent the opposite end of a corresponding wire they together form a tapering circular body of larger diameter than each of said Wires.

8. In a rail bond, a pair of similar wires of substantially the same sectional area throughout, said wires shaped near each end to have a cross-section forming a portion of a circle one end of each of said wires shaped so that when placed adjacent the opposite end of the other wire, they form a tapering circular body of larger diameter than each of said Wires, the larger section of said tapering body being at the end of said wires.

9. An article of manufacture consisting of a plurality of wires of uniform diameter, said wires shaped near one end to have a cross-section forming a portion of a cirole, and said shaped ends when placed adjacent one another forming a circular body of greater diameter than each of said wires.

10. An article of manufacture consisting of a plurality of wires of uniform diameter, said Wires shaped near one end to have a cross-section forming a portion of a circle, said shaped ends when placed adjacent one another forming a tapering circular body with the larger end of the taper at the ends of the wires.

MATTHEW H. LOUGHRIDGE. 

